Prof Marcello Costa

Position/s

Biography

Marcello Costa was born in Torino (Turin, Italy) in 1940 where obtained in 1967 his Medical Degree (Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia)Migrated to Australia in 1970, was one of the founders of the new discipline of Neuroscience and the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS), of which become President in the 90s. He holds a personal chair in Neurophysiology at Flinders University, the first in Australia. He has published over 230 scientific papers in international journals, 55 reviews and chapters and written two books in enteric neuroscience and gastrointestinal motor functions.He was foundation co-chair of the the South Australian Neuroscience Institute (SANI) from 2003 to 2010. He is active in the field of philosophy of science and education in neuroscience to university students and to the broader public (see publications and CV). He actively participates in the activities of the association Friends of Science in Medicine opposing pseudosciences (http://www.scienceinmedicine.org.au/).

Qualifications

He has a degree in Medicine (Laurea in Medicina e Chirurgia) from the University of Torino, Italy obtained in 1967.

Honours, awards and grants

He has been elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science 1988.Received the honor of "Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana" from the Italian Government in 1992.Recipient of prize" Piedmontese of the Year" in 1994Received a Centenary Medal, Australia 2003.He received the Flinders 40Th anniversary medal for services to the University 2006Was awarded, together with Ian Gibbins, the "Unsung Hero of South Australian Science Communication" Award for 2008 of the National Science Week, Australian Science Communicators (SA).In 2012 he was made Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor at Flinders University.

Key responsibilities

Marcello has a personal chair in Neurophysiology and is responsible for a number of topics in neuroscience and run his own experiments since he relinquished his role as directing a large research laboratory. He is leading a team of researchers in a project funded by the ARC (see research)

Teaching interests

Marcello is a passionate teacher of neuroscience both at undergraduate level, postgraduate level and to the general public. He taught at the University of the third age (Flinders) a short topic on Brain and Cognition in 2009, and in 2010 a 6 parts topic on "The Physics of the Mind" at the U3A in Adelaide. He gave talks on Neuroscience at numerous primary and secondary schools. He gave a short course on "Illusions and the Brain" at the Australian School of Mathematics and Physics.He has established most undergraduate topics in Neuroscience in the School of Medicine and now coordinates two of these.Was a foundation member of the interfaculty Cognitive Science undergraduate course, now no longer available.He has been involved in setting up and teaching in the postgraduate neuroscience course offered under the umbrella of SANI by Flinders University.His commitment to education of scientific approach to human problems and neuroscience led him to be involved, under the umbrella of the South Australian Neuroscience Institute (SANI), in many public events including Science Outside of the Square (SOS) events organised by the South Australian Bragg Initiative and the RIAus. These included Brain and art, Brain and Dance, Brain and Soccer , Galileo celebration. He organised with Ian Gibbins a public event with the folksinger Ronnie Tahini and her group (Outhose Orchestra) on Brain and Music.

Topic Coordinator:

Topic Lecturer:

Research interests

Marcello has been a pioneer in the study of the neural control of gastrointestinal functions with his first paper in this field published in 1965.He has obtained research funds from National and International competitive peer reviewed granting bodies since his arrival to Flinders in 1975.His laboratory was funded by the Pharmaceutical company Astra Zeneca for 11 years.His research interest has been expanded to general issues of neuroscience and he is actively involved in exploring the conceptual foundations that brings neurosciences into fields as diverse as Philosophy, Social sciences, Psychology, History of Science, History of Art etc.He has been funded by National and international granting bodies uninterruptedly since his arrival at Flinders University in 1975.He is leading a team of researchers from 5 Institutions recipient of a significant ARC discovery grant for 2012-2014 entitled "Unified framework of intestinal motility".

Yuan, S.Y., Costa, M. and Brookes, S. (2000). Effects of piroxicam on the slow waves in the circular muscle of the guinea-pig gastric antrum and duodenum. Proceedings of the Australian Physiological and Pharmalogical Society. 31(2) pp. 71-71.

Yuan, S.Y., Brookes, S. and Costa, M. (1998). Neuronal pathways and transmission to the gastroesophageal junction of the guinea pig. In Neurogatroenterology and Motility. 16th International Symposium on Gastrointestinal Motility, pp. 110-110.

Yuan, S.Y., Brookes, S. and Costa, M. (1997). Neurotransmission to the gastric sling muscle of the guinea-pig. In Journal of the Autonomic Nervous System. Inaugural Conference of the International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience in Australia, pp. 150-150.

Professional and community engagement

Marcello is one of the five founding members and member of the executive of the association Friends of Science in Medicine. The Friends of Science in Medicine(FSM) was established in late 2011 by five founding members who represent a
cross-section of concerned persons, each with a long but different
history of involvement in educational activities fostering good science
in Medicine. While the FSM
was launched on the 20 December 2011, its association was registered
with New South Wales (NSW), Department of Fair Trading on 13 February
2012. The FSM has now more than 550 members (see web page at http://www.scienceinmedicine.org.au/)

Marcello is involved in numerous activities to foster science education for the public. He participated to numerous activities under the umbrella of the RIAus, the Carnevale, the largest festival of the Italian community held yearly in Adelaide, the teaches courses for the University of the third age, gives talks to various community associations and will participate to the Adelaide Festival Centre program in conversation in July 2012.

Further information

Marcello is actively involved in Neuroscience research (see publications) and is engaged in public education. He has written numerous articles on more general implication of Neuroscience in society (see Fast Thinking articles) and participated to public events on the relevance of Neuroscience in many human activities. He has given many talks on the philosophy of Neuroscience.

He has written articles for local and national magazines, introductions and chapters in edited books. He is one of the five founder and actively involved in the association "Friends of Science in Medicine" that aims at removing pseudoscience teaching in health courses in tertiary institutions and opposing Goverment benefits to unproven therapies in the complementary and alternative medicine field.

A full list of these documents is appended as a document (Guide to Marcello Costa general science article publications).